Ryanair spokesperson today responded to the DAA’s statement (copy attached) by asking the DAA to explain their €5.6 billion spend on Dublin airport as set out below.

1. Why are the DAA proposing to spend more CapEx than 2x Children’s Hospitals?
   
   
2. Why is DAA budgeting so poor that over €1.5 billion is allocated to “inflation” and “contingencies”?
   
   
3. Ryanair accounts for over 50% of traffic at Dublin airport (and most of Dublin’s growth), yet DAA insists on building facilities (including air bridges & lounges) for “other 40+ airlines” who don’t deliver significant traffic and don’t grow.
   
   
4. Why is DAA spending €700m extending Pier 1 when this extension could be done for less than €100m and still create traffic growth for 10m passengers p.a.?
   
   
5. DAA keeps wasting money on “lounges” when Ryanair’s 17m passengers don’t use them.
   
   
6. DAA claims that spending €7m on wildflowers is “wrong”. However, pages 164 &169 of their submission to the regulator (attached) confirms that €6.84m will be spent on “planting trees, hedgerows, and pollinator-friendly vegetation to enhance the biodiversity value of these locations”. Even this €7m includes €1.23m for “contingency”. The DAA can’t even plant wildflowers or trees without over €1 million for “contingency”.
   
   
7. The DAA claim it is “not state funded”. This is true. It is, however, a regulated state owned monopoly, and their proposal to waste €5.6bn – twice the cost of the National Children’s Hospital – on unnecessary facilities (air bridges and lounges), including €600 million on “sustainability projects”, €1.5bn on “inflation and contingencies”, and yes, even €7m on wildflowers (AKA biodiversity) proves they can’t be trusted to run an efficient or cost-effective airport.
   
   

A Ryanair spokesperson said:

“Planning to put air bridges on Pier 1 where Ryanair accounts for 80% of the traffic, but won’t use them, shows the real purpose of this plan, which is to “game” the regulator, explode CapEx, so that they can double airport charges over the next five years from €20 pdp today to over €40 pdp by 2031.

If Ireland had a competent Dept of Transport, the Board of the DAA would be sacked for these mad spending plans. Instead, like the Children’s Hospital, the DAA propose to waste this money, the regulator will increase the passenger charges, and with much higher charges, Dublin Airport will stop growing because Ryanair – the main generator of growth at Dublin Airport – will switch its new aircraft, new routes, and new jobs to lower cost airports elsewhere in Europe.”